Evaluating the integration of research-based internship with sustainable environmental thinking

Abstract

The integration of theory and practice in the learning process has become the foundation of architectural education. In learning a sustainable environment, direct involvement of students in the environment to increase awareness of sustainable development is fundamental. Internship is a learning process where students can develop themselves outside of lecture hours. The impact of the COVID-19 storm demanded new education methods in the learning process. The architecture study program of the Sumatra Institute of Technology (ITERA) has started an internship on a research project for the past 1 year. This paper aims to investigate the extent of students’ awareness in terms of environment sustainability while they undertake the research-based internship. While the research objectives are: to examine the attitude of students in delivering sustainable thinking; to investigate the sustainability knowledge that obtained by the students during the internship, and to acknowledge the student skills regarding environment sustainability thinking This exploratory research uses content analysis method and conduct an online survey from students involved in the internship. It is concluded that the internship through research project improve social skills, context analysis and environmental awareness, but there is a need for improvement in the delivery of lectures related to real strategies and implementation in realizing environmental sustainability.